THE END OF A HOT WAR AND THE BEGINNING OF A COLD ONE

 

My review of Winston Churchill’s Triumph and Tragedy (1953)

Part VI of Winston Churchill’s World War II memoirs

(Rating 4 of 5)

                In the final volume in his memoirs of World War II Winston Churchill takes us from the beginnings of D-day to the final destruction of Hitler’s Germany and the creation of the bi-lateral post-war world that would consumed by what we refer to as the Cold War.  Throughout the final books in this volume you feel that Churchill is more and more the man abandoned.  On side he has Roosevelt dying on him and having to cultivate a new relationship with Truman.  On the other side he has Stalin ever increasing his grip on Eastern Europe building what Churchill would later the call the Iron Curtin. In the end he is ultimately abandoned by the British people who had led to victory in this conflict when in their first opportunity to choose a government in ten years they toss him out. 

                In the beginning of the book D-Day is ongoing Churchill sees all of this through letters of the various commanders.  As the allies push through he makes the point that it was in Allies’ good luck that Hitler focused less on bombers and instead just missiles.  For as the Allies pushed through German forces’ abilities proved inefficient compared to the technological prowess of the Allies.

                As the war pushes on it becomes clear that the Allies are going to win it is no longer of ‘if’ but ‘when.’  At this point plans are going to have to be made.  What if Hitler himself offers unconditional surrender?  There was a strong feeling that they should not negotiate with war criminals.  So they refuse Hitler’s hypothetical offer and anyone else who was in the Nazi hierarchy.  Instead wait for some other government to come to power to surrender.  I wonder however if by holding this view Churchill would be subjecting this hypothetical peace government to the same blame the Weimar Republic had after the last war.  

                It was important to come up with a plan and be able to adapt to changing circumstances but on the Atlantic Churchill’s most powerful friend was becoming weaker and weaker as his physical condition continued to deteriorate.

“I lunched there on September 19.  Harry Hopkins was present.  He was obviously invited to please me.  He explained to me his altered position.  He had declined in the favour of the President.  There was a curious incident at the luncheon, when he arrived a few minutes late and the President did not even great him.  It was remarkable how definitely my contacts with the President improved and our affairs moved quicker as Hopkins appeared to regain his influence.  In two days it seemed to be like old times.  He said to me, ‘You must know I am not what I was.’ He had tried too much at once.  Even his fullness of spirit broke under his variegated activities.” (p. 161)

Roosevelt with little time left.

One thing Churchill tries to dispel is the myth of Yalta.  That Roosevelt’s growing weakness contributed to the Allies getting fleeced.  One thing Churchill would later point out of the agreement itself was so bad why did Stalin violate it?  He also has to defend against the point that Britain went to war to protect Poland but when it came to Poland it seemed that Stalin got his way almost every time.   Churchill would continue to defend the decisions that were made while reminding everyone that they still needed the help of the Soviet Union.

 “It is not permitted to those charged with dealing with events in times of war or crisis to confine themselves purely to the statement of broad general principles on which good people agree.  They have to take definite decisions from day to day.  They have to adopt postures which must be solidly maintained, otherwise how can any combinations for action be maintained?  It is easy after the Germans are beaten, to condemn those who did their best to hearten the Russian military effort and to keep in harmonious contact with our great Ally, who had suffered so frightfully.  What would have happened if we had quarreled with Russia while the Germans still had three or four hundred divisions on the fighting front?  Our hopeful assumptions were soon to be falsified.  Still they were the only ones possible at the time.” (p. 402)

Yalta

On his new American ally in President Harry Truman, he was very impressed how quickly Truman seemed to grasp matters.  He did have some suspicions on some issues he may have been just piggy-backing off of Roosevelt’s policy. 

“President Truman’s first political cat which concerned us was to take up the Polish question from the point where it stood when Roosevelt died, only forty-eight hours earlier.  The document in which this was set fourth must of course have been far advanced in preparation by the State Department at the moment the new President succeeded.  Nevertheless it is remarkable that he felt able so promptly to commit himself to it amid the formalities of assuming office and the funeral of his predecessor.” (p. 486)

New Ally

Churchill was not given the opportunity to finish his own story.  As they were heading to the Conference to which the post-war world was to be build his party was defeated at the poles.  It should be noted that when this volume was printed Churchill was once again the prime minister but the defeat in the election after victory in war hurt him.  You can easily detect his bitterness in his statements about his resignation.

“In ordinary circumstances I should have felt free to take a few days to wind up the affairs of the Government in the usual manner.  Constitutionally I could have awaited the meeting of Parliament in a few days’ time, and taken my dismissal from the House of Commons.  This would have enabled me to present before resignation the unconditional surrender of Japan to the nation.  The need for Britain being immediately represented with the proper authority at the Conference, where all the great issues we had discussed were now to come to a head, made all delay contrary to the public interest.  Moreover, the verdict of the electors had been so overwhelmingly expressed that I did not wish to remain even for an hour responsible for their affairs.” (p.675)       

In closing I have to admit I found Mr. Churchill’s memoirs somewhat difficult to get through they lacked the narrative appeal of his History of the English Speaking Peoples.  Often things would be dragged down with long drown out letters that he easily could have summarized.  I think I will take a break from memoirs for a little while.

RUNNING UP TO D-DAY

 

My review of Winston Churchill’s Closing the Ring (1951)

Part V of Winston Churchill’s World War II memoirs

(Rating 3 of 5)

                Churchill’s fifth volume goes over the remainder of the 1943 and the first half of 1944 leading up to the D-day invasion.  The focus of the book has to maintaining the alliance the three great powers of the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union; the fall and future of Italy; with a little bit of the Pacific theater thrown in for good measure.  Like the previous volumes I find Churchill’s personality clashes with other historical figures to more interesting than his description some of the events that were happening.  

                As the allies hopped from Africa to Italy and toppled the dictator Mussolini there was now a concern about control of the peninsula.  It would be good for locals to cooperate and the best way for that to occur was for a local popular based authority to emerge from the population.  So the allies needed to find local support quickly.    

Operation Torch

“My position is that once Mussolini and the Fascists are gone, I will deal with any Italian authority which can deliver the goods.  I am not in the least afraid for this purpose of seeming to recognize the House of Savoy or Badoglio, provided they are the ones who can make the Italians do what we need for our war purposes.  Those purposes would certainly be hindered by chaos, Bolshevisation, or civil war.  We have no right to lay undue burdens on our troops.  It may well be that after the armistice terms have been accepted both the King and Badoglio will sink under the odium of surrender and that the Crown Prince and a new Prime Minister may be chosen.” (p. 64)

Needed some local support to complete Mussolini's overthrow

The local was in the person of King Victor Emmanuel III and his Prime Minster Pietro Badoglio.  Despite the former cooperation with Mussolini, they proved to the best option in a bad situation.  In Churchill’s view they were allies who came through.

“From the moment when the Armistice was signed and when the Italian Fleet loyally and courageously joined the Allies, I felt myself bound to work with the King of Italy and Marshal Badogio, at least until Rome should be occupied by the Allies and we could construct a really broad-based Italian Government for the prosecution of the war jointly with us.  I was sure that King Victor Emmanuel and Badoglio would be able to do more for what had now become from the exiles or opponents of the Fascist regime.  The surrender of the Italian Fleet was solid proof of their authority.” (p. 188)

King Victor Emmanuel III

Nevertheless Churchill still felt that Italy was going to be a strong challenge.  Still with German troops, Italian fascists, and other various forms of resistance, Churchill tried to properly inform the Parliament of the tough road that they would be facing.   

“The battle of Italy will be hard and long.  I am not yet convinced that any other Government can be formed at the present time in Italy which could command the same obedience from the Italian armed forces.  Should we succeed in the present battle and enter Rome, as I trust and believe we shall, we shall be free to discuss the whole Italian political situation, and we shall do so with many advantages that we do not possess at the present time.  It is from Rome that a more broadly based Italian Government can best be formed.  Whether a Government thus formed will be so helpful to the Allies as the present dispensation I cannot tell.” (p. 498)

Prime Minster Badoglio

As always what I enjoy most about these books are Churchill’s interactions with other world leaders.   FDR often had to be the go-between when it came to his fellow titans, as Churchill would often be badgered by Stalin frankness of who and what he was,  such as his suggestion the execution of German officers as a way of upsetting Churchill, where Roosevelt treats it as a joke. 

In Churchill’s retelling he never loses his cool.  When it joked that the unwritten British Constitution is what “Mr. Churchill wants it to be at any moment” he is quick to remind his colleagues that the House of Commons could dismiss him at any moment while Mr. Roosevelt’s term is fixed and Stalin is a dictator.  Churchill also denies reports that the British were against a second front in France, instead keeps the focus on overlord and joins with Stalin in pressuring Roosevelt to choose his commander. 

“The President remarked on the importance of the timing of operations in all the theaters.  Now that the three Staffs had got together, he hoped they would keep together.  He had informed Marshal Stalin that the next step was to appoint the Commander for ‘Overlord.’  After consultation with his own Staffs and with me, it should be possible to make a decision within three or four days.  Now that the main military decisions had been taken, it seemed right for the British and American Staffs to return to Cairo as soon as possible to work out the details.  To this Stalin and I agreed.” (p. 383)

Churchill and Stalin are pressuring Roosevelt to appoint a Commander for Overlord 

There has been since World War II a nice little story about King George VI and Churchill.   This old story repeated by General Eisenhower in his own memoirs and also by his grandson.  It is shown in many bio films about Churchill.  The story goes that Churchill wants to take an active part in the D-day operations from one of the British battleships.   Generals are opposed but Churchill insists.  That is when the King intervenes.   Informing Churchill that he wants to lead the troops as King, His Majesty is opposed by Churchill citing the very reasons the generals didn’t want him to go.  Churchill sees the King’s point and they both agree not to go.

However in Churchill’s own account of it, that he provides with the King’s permission to correct the record, it was not one event but a series of exchanges between the King and the Prime Minister.  Basically the King had to almost beg Churchill not to go.

 “I want to make one more appeal to you not to go to sea on D-Day.  Please consider my own position.  I am a younger man than you, I am a sailor, and as King I am the head of all these Services.  There is nothing I would like better than to go to sea, but I have agreed to stay home; is it fair that you should then do exactly what I should have liked to do myself?  You said yesterday afternoon that it would be a fine thing for the King to lead troops into battle, as in the old days; if the King cannot do this, it does not seem to me right that his Prime Minister should take his place.” (p. 622)   

Churchill's owed King George a little more respect 

Churchill relents but in a passive aggressive fashion notes that the ship he was going to be on board did not take fire during the attack.  In an attempt to clear the record on this matter he comes off as a totally jerk to a King who was doing his best to help him.

As the book ends the Countdown to D-Day has begun.

 

 

THE WAR WAGES ON

 

My review of Winston Churchill’s The Hinge of Fate (1950)

Part IV of Winston Churchill’s World War II memoirs

(Rating 3 of 5)

                The third book in Sir Winston Churchill’s World War II memoirs covers the year 1942 and most of 1943.  At this point the Grand Alliance was formed the United States of America, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain were combining their strengths to bring down the regime of the Axis leaders Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.  Also on the Pacific the American and Royal Navies are waging war against the Japanese Empire. 

                Most of this book consists of is Churchill’s communications between his allies President Roosevelt and Premier Stalin, as well as numerous communications back and forth between him and his subordinates.  The book is a middle chapter with neither a real beginning nor real end.  Churchill mostly discusses the military campaigns in Africa, pressure from the Soviets for a second front in Europe, sea battles with the Japanese, and some internal political struggle within Great Britain itself. There are points where the book focus not on the main events at the time but on plans and discussions for what is about to come.  This can be especially dark when reading about the discussions on weapons research.

“I told the President in general terms of the great progress we had made, and that our scientists were now definitely convinced that results might be reached before the end of the present war.  He said his people were getting along too, but no one could tell whether anything practical would emerge till a full-scale experiment had been made.  We knew what efforts the Germans were making to procure supplies of ‘heavy water’—a sinister term, eerie, unnatural, which began to creep into our secret papers.  What if the enemy should get an atomic bomb before we did!  However skeptical one might feel about the assertions of scientists, much dispute among themselves and expressed in jargon incomprehensible to laymen, we could not run the mortal risk of being outstripped in this awful sphere.” (p. 380)

                Julius Caesar may have a mocked his defeated rivals for making plans about what they were going to do when they came to power after his defeat, but in actuality is actually smart to make plans for what is to come after the conflict.  It is how you win the peace after you have won the war.  Amongst the allies there was a good deal of talk about what the postwar world was going to look like especially in Europe.

“In the course of a general talk I said that the first preoccupation must be to prevent further aggression in the future by Germany or Japan.  To this and I contemplated an association of the United States, Great Britain, and Russia.  If the United States wish to include China in association with the other three, I was perfectly willing that this should be done; but, however great the importance of China, she was knocked comparable to the others.  On these Powers would rest the real responsibility for peace.  They together, with certain other Powers, to form a Supreme World Council.” (p.802)

FDR, Churchill, and Stalin

At times during these discussions the future of a defeated Germany did not look very good for the Germans.  Germany, having only been unified since the Franco-Prussian war of the 1870s, was not naturally viewed by either Churchill or Stalin as being necessary to continue as a unified state.  We know now that Germany would spend over four decades split apart.  However the division between East and West Germany could have been far worse.

“I said that I would like to see Prussia divided from the rest of Germany, forty million Prussians being a manageable European unit.  Many people wish to carry the process of division further and divide Prussia itself into component parts, but on this I reserve judgment. Poland and Czechoslovakia should stand together and friendly relations with Russia. This left the Scandinavian countries and Turkey, which last might or might not be willing, with Greece, to play some part in the Balkan system.” (p.803)

Let's undo this!

Some of the things I enjoyed about this book happen not to be the great events that we already know happened but some of the smaller ones. For example, Churchill citing from memory American poetry from the US Civil War and impressing his audience.  More practically I love Churchill’s comments about when traveling across time zones biplane they should keep their eating routines identical to the time zone where they first got on the plane in order not to create confusion.

Having finished this book we are now two thirds of the way to completion of this entire series. Although I enjoyed his earlier books I am really more excited for the coming chapters as we come to the fall of Hitler and the rise of the United Nations.

 [Video posted by the YouTuber British Pathé]

 

GREAT BRITAIN STANDS ALONE (AT LEAST UNTIL THE USSR AND THE USA JOIN HER)

 

My review of Winston Churchill’s The Grand Alliance (1950)

Part III of Winston Churchill’s World War II memoirs

(Rating 3 of 5)

                Sir Winston Churchill’s third volume of his memoirs on World War II show him leading the British Government through its darkest days when all the major allies had fallen and they are fighting seemingly outnumbered and outgunned with their very surveil is in doubt.  This continues on until the Germany in an act of stupidity decides to attack the USSR before they finish the British off.  Then after the Japanese attack the United States, the United Kingdom forms with them and the Soviet Union “the Grand Alliance.”

                Unfortunately the book itself is not very exciting.  It mostly consists of messages sent back and forth between Churchill and his various subordinates.  He is just receives, shouts back orders, and moves on to the next thing.  The coverage is broad.  In Churchill’s eyes you see the fighting in theaters all across the globe making it easy to understand why this is a “World War.” However Churchill is at his best as a writer when he gives his analysis on what is going on.  That is available in this book but there is little of it. 

Churchill in his Air Force Uniform

            A good example of some of Churchill’s better writing is in first section of the book where he discusses the Japanese threat to the British Empire.  The Japanese Empire, who were already on friendly terms and taking suggestions from Hitler’s Third Reich, had a lot to gain at the expense of the British.  Nevertheless they did not seem to take the Germans suggestion to ignore the Americans in the present.   

“This was for very different reasons also the German view.  Germany and Japan were both eager to despoil and divide the British Empire.  But they approached the target from different angles.  The German High Command argued that the Japanese ought to commit their armed forces in Malaya and the Dutch East Indies without worrying about the American Pacific bases, and the main fleet which lay or their flank.” (pg. 181)

Hideki Tojo, Prime Minster of Japan

My favorite part of the book had to do with the sinking of the Bismarck in a great sea battle with the Royal Navy.  There is a type of perverse beauty of a battle with great military and nautical minds going at it with fate of nations at stake.

“A northwesterly gale was blowing when the daylight came on the twenty-seventh.  The Rodney opened fire at 8:47 AM, followed a minute later by the King George V.  The British ships quickly began to hit, and after a pause the Bismarck too opened fire.  For a short time her shooting was good, although the crew after four grueling days, were utterly exhausted and falling asleep at their posts.  With her third salvo she straddled the Rodney, but thereafter the weight of the British attack was overwhelming, and within a half an hour most of her guns were silent.  A fire was blazing amidships, and she had a heavy list to port.  The Rodney now turned across her bow, pouring in a heavy fire from a range of no more than four thousand yards.  By 10:15 all the Bismarck’s guns were silent and her mast was shot away.  The ship lay wallowing in the heavy seas, a flaming and smoking ruin; yet even then she did not sink.” (pg. 318-9)

                Except she did sink, as Churchill found out the next morning and was happy to have everyone find that out when he announced it to the House of Commons.   It was one of the most daring adventures that the British had as they stood alone against the Nazi menace.

Hitler, the ever present threat 

                Then Hitler decided he didn’t like Stalin anymore and attacked the Soviet Union.  Even though the Russians were huge help as an ally, Churchill never liked Stalin or the Soviet state.  They British originally went to war to defend the rights of Poland and the two major aggressors were Hitler and Stalin.  In the book Churchill pivots back and forth from praising Russia as a great and important ally to calling them a burden and more trouble than they were worth.  In real life they extremely important and Churchill himself used the line of enemy of Hitler is our ally and even making an analogy to the biblical Satan.  In the book you can feel his contempt for them.  

“The Soviet Government had the impression that they were conferring a great favour on us by fighting in their own country for their own lives.  The more they fought the heaver that debt became.  This was not a balanced view.” (pg. 388)

Churchill didn't really want to be friends but didn't have much of a choice. 

A completely opposite view of the United States entering the war is giving by Churchill.  When the United States enters he basically declares victory.  Churchill’s mother was an American and for those of us who read his History of the English Speaking Peoples, we know Churchill considers the United States to be part of that group.   

“No American will think it wrong of me if I proclaim that to have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy.  I could not foretell the course of events.  I do not pretend to have measured accurately the martial might of Japan, but now at this very moment I knew the United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death.  So we had won after all!  Yes, after Dunkirk; after the fall of France;….England would live; Britain would live; the Commonwealth of Nations and the Empire would live.” (pg. 606-7) 

Pearl Harbor 

 

                The rest of the book deals with the formation of the Grand Alliance, the Agreement that no peace be made without the consent of all, and the taking of the name “United Nations” that would later be the banner to which a new group that would form to maintain the peace after the war had drawn to a close. 

                In closing the memoirs thus far are not for the casual reader you have to have a strong appreciation for this topic to follow along in with this book.

[Video was put up by YouTube user Henrik Herlev}

 

GREAT BRITAIN AND FRANCE (THEN JUST GREAT BRITAIN)

 

My review of Winston Churchill’s Their Finest Hour (1949)

Part II of Winston Churchill’s World War II memoirs

(Rating 4 of 5)

                Like many people 2016 was rather ruff for me.  The loss of couple close relatives, chaos at work, and other issues forced my reading to take a huge hit.  That said I could go weeks without even touching one of my books.  I normally try to make myself at the very least read a chapter a day.  But this year that didn’t happen.  Even though I am writing this at the end of January I don’t expect to post it for a long while. (In fact, we are now in July of 2022 folks!)

                Well on with my review.  Their Finest Hour starts write where The Gathering Strom left off, the fall of Chamberlin’s government and the rise of Churchill as the Prime Minister.  I think American readers might be taken aback by how British Prime Minsters can rise and fall not by an election by just a reorganization of party.  As in the case with both David Cameron’s predecessor, Gordon Brown, and successor, Theresa May.  May is the Prime Minister currently. (Nope! Not anymore!) The executive power changes without the people having any say in it what so ever.   Yet in the United Kingdom it is the system they have and it is viewed as quite natural. 

Chamberlin stood aside for Churchill 

                It is useful trivia that Churchill was the last Prime Minister not to be the leader of party.  Chamberlin retained that for six months until he resigned for health reasons.  At first Churchill wondered if he should take it, since his government was an all talents government, but the more he thought of it allowing someone else to be the leader of the majority meant giving someone the power to bring down his government at will.  So he took the job.

                Despite being a supporter of Nevil Chamberlin and having tried to prevent his resignation, Churchill really enjoyed his new job.  This type of person Churchill was: when there was a crisis he wanted to be in the thick of it.  With the job of Prime Minister he was able to take on the challenge in the manner in which he most saw fit.

“In my long political experience I had held most of the great offices of State, but I readily admit that the post which had now fallen to me was the one I liked the best.  Power, for the sake of lording it over fellow-creatures or adding to personal pomp, is rightly judged as base.  But power in a national crisis, when a man believes he knows what orders should be given, is a blessing.  In any sphere of action there can be no comparison of number one and numbers two, three, and four.” (p. 15)

In taking command Churchill reorganized the government to be more efficient in war time.  He created a new ministry called the Minister of Defense and gave himself, as Prime Minister, the job.  This allowed all the military heads to report to a single executive authority. 

“In calling myself, with the King’s approval, Minster of Defence, I made no legal or constitutional change.  I had been careful not to define my right and duties.  I asked for no special powers either from the Crown or Parliament.  It was however, understood that I should assume the general direction of the war, subject to the support of the War Cabinet and of the House of Commons.   The key-change which occurred on my taking over was, of course, the supervision and direction of the Chiefs of the Staff Committee by a Minster of Defence with undefined powers.  As this Minster was also the Prime Minister, he had all the rights inherent in that office, including the very wide powers of selection and removal of all professional and political personages.   Thus for the first time the Chiefs of Staff Committee assumed its due and proper place in direct daily contact with the executive Head of the Government, and in accord with him had full control over the conduct of the war and the armed forces.” (p.16)

Churchill with King George VI

The first half of this book involves Great Britain and France against a revived Germany hell-bent on conquest.  They start at war against Germany alone but quickly Italy, who was already invading other counties, joins the fight as well.  Germany was prepared and the allies were not.  As a consequence France found itself pushed back into their own county.  They were beaten and at one point the Third Republic realized their end came in the way it began, with a German invasion.  Not all parties accepted this however. 

“It was clear that France was near the end of organized resistance, and a chapter in the war was now closing.  The French might by some means continue the struggle.  There might even be two French Governments, one which made peace, and one which organized resistance from the French colonies, carrying on the war at sea through the French Fleet and in France through guerrillas  It was too early to tell.  Though for a period we might still have to send some support to France, we must now concentrate our main efforts on the defence of our island.” (p. 159-60)

There a couple of things about the fall of France that I found fascinating.  The first was the state of the French Navy, where the main capital ships sat in the water for duration of the war officially in the service of the Vichy puppet government.  The second was the fact serious consideration was given to the idea of combining the United Kingdom and the French Third Republic would combine into one great supernation.  Basically reviving the old Plantagenet claim for King George VI. 

“He hoped with us that this solemn pledge of union and brotherhood between the two nations and empires would give the struggling French Premier the means to carry his Government to Africa with all possible forces and order the French Navy to sail for harbours outside impending German control.” (p.209)

King Edward III's old French claim revived for the 20th century

The second part of the book is “when England stood alone” against the German militarily might.  This part you get a view of Winston Churchill: war leader.  Giving orders to and receiving reports from his subordinates.   He also would write letters back and forth to President Roosevelt.  As time went on Great Britain would get pounded with bombs.  Churchill writes with admiration about the people partially the public servants who continued with their duties in the face of danger.  

“It will always add to the renown of the British Parliament that its Members continued to sit and discharge their duties through all this period.  The Commons are very touchy in such matters, and it would have been easy to misjudge their mood.  When one Chamber was damaged, they moved to another, and I did my utmost to persuade them to follow wise advice with good grace.  Their migrations will be recorded in due course.  In short, everyone behaved with sense and dignity.  It was also lucky that when the Chamber was blown to pieces a few months later, it was by night and not by day, when empty and not full.  With our mastery of the daylight raids there came a considerable relief in personal convenience.  But during the first few months I was never free from anxiety about the safety of the Members.  After all, a free sovereign Parliament, fairly chosen by universal suffrage, able to turn out the Government any day, but proud to uphold it in the darkest days, was one of the points which were in dispute with the enemy.  Parliament won.”  (p. 356-7)

Hitler having conquered France

The land lease was historically one of the most important acts that President Roosevelt ever did.  It gave important aid to a past and future ally at a difficult time.   Without the British might of run out of capital before they ran out of bombs.

“Up till November, 1940, we had paid for everything we had received.  We had already sold $335,000,000 worth of American shares requisitioned for sterling from private owners in Britain.  We had paid out over $4,500,000,000 in cash.  We had only two thousand millions left, the greater part in investments, many of which were not readily marketable.  It was plain that we could not go on any longer in this way.  Even if we divested ourselves of all our gold and foreign assets, we could not pay for half we had ordered, and the extension of the war made it necessary for us to have ten times as much.  We must keep something in hand to carry on our daily affairs.” (p. 557-8)

By the close of the year the British people had prevailed.  They were headed into the year 1941 with a continued great challenge in front of them.  They would get help from the nations of their Empire and throughout the year the United States would provide arms before joining the conflict at years end.

{Video is from the 2017 film The Darkest Hour}

Roe V Wade 2022 and 2024

 

To everyone who cares about right of women to have control of their own bodies:

We are on the defensive make no mistake about it.  As of yesterday morning, half the women in the United States will shortly lose control of their basic anatomy.  I live in Maine, one of the “safe states” where women still have that right.  I would prefer the term “Free State.”  Once we were called a free state for a very different reason.  I will not say the two are comparable because the evil that was fought before was clearly worse.  However, if someone is homeless and eating in a soup kitchen saying to that person “at least you’re not starving” doesn’t really do anything to cure the person’s homelessness does it?  There have been worse things to happen in this country but this is the problem we are facing right now.  So please don’t confuse the analogy.

In 1858 Lincoln said,

 

A house divided against itself, cannot stand."

I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.

I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided.

It will become all one thing or all the other.

Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South.

 

I feel this is true for the nation today.  At the moment women have the right to choose a medical abortion in 37 states and will most likely lose it in other states within the coming months.  In the short term this will lead to a nation that is only half free. I don’t think that is going to hold. It is either going to become all of one or all of the other and that will be determined in the 2022 and 2024 elections. 

 To put it simply the Republican Party needs to be punished and needs to be punished severely for if they are not bad things will happen.  If they are only slightly damaged or even empowered, they will go for more.  A Republican controlled Congress with a Republican President WILL pass a national law banning choice everywhere!  Then they will come after contraception, marriage equality, and anything else you can think.  

So, to simplify these are the three possible outcomes.

 1)      Democrats win in the fall and win in 2024.  We can begin to fix this right away, with solid majorities in both Houses of Congress and put Roe into statutory law and maybe we can even work on expanding the Supreme Court to get this lawless court under control.

2)      Republicans take control of Congress in the fall but the Democrats prevail in 2024.  This means gridlock for two years while half the nation’s women are still living in Anti-Choice sections of the United States. Reform begins in 2025 we have recovered all that was lost by the end of the decade.   

3)      Republicans win in the fall and win in 2024.  By the end of the decade choice will be dead in America and it will not be revived for a minimum of three generations. Other rights will be on the defensive and most time will be spent on defending those.  With any luck women three generations from now will win back the right that were once taken for granted by their great-grandmothers.  

 

Belichick vs Brady

 

              For twenty years we who are fans of the New England Patriots were blessed to have both the greatest Head Coach and Quarterback combination of all time in Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.  With the unprecedented success in winning six Super Bowls in nine trips to the big game also came a question: which one was more important?  

       Celtics President Danny Anige has pointed out the stupidity of this debate.  He stated that people don’t generally ask if Red Auerbach or Bill Russell was more important racking up all those earlier Celtic Championships. Yet the debate was often used as a form of attack when anyone wanted to downplay the accomplishments of one or the other.  “Belichick isn’t that great of a coach, he just has Brady.  Look at his record with the Browns anybody could look good with Brady as their quarterback.”  or “Brady isn’t that great he just had Belichick all those years.  If Peyton Manning had Belichick as his couch how many do you think he could have won?” 

Mutual admiration

                        When asked the two normally will give credit to the other one.  Belichick will often utter the line, “Players win games, not coaches” and Brady will say that he owes Belichick for teaching him everything he knows. 

                   With Brady leaving the Patriots for the Buccaneers this year and leading them to the Super Bowl this Sunday the debate is now tipping in Brady’s favor and will continue to do so if they win.  If the Bucs lose with Brady performing well but fail to keep up with Mahomes’s offensive onslaught, then it might swing back to Belichick with people remembering how the Patriots defense handled the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game two years ago.    

       In my own view the two compliment each other they both bring a certain level of success to the team and together they augment each other's greatness.  I have watched every game that the two were in together and saw nine trips to the Super Bowl.  My take of the six victories three of them both men were equally responsible for, two Belichick was more responsible for, and one Brady was primary.  Of the three losses one was more Belichick’s fault, and two were Brady’s.  Let us take a look at each of these to explain why.

Super Bowl 36
2001 New England Patriots
2/3/2002
More responsible for win: Belichick

    The memory that most have about Super Bowl 36 is Brady in the final minutes of the game driving his team down the field to set up the winning field goal with no time remaining. It had been a hell of a year.  The franchise quarterback, Drew Bledsoe had been injured in the first game following a return to football after the 9/11 attacks.  Taking over the backup quarterback, a sixth round draft pick named Tom Brady, showed some promise by almost winning that game.  The Patriots went on a Cinderella run, a team that never won the Super Bowl before was going to become one of the positive stories about the year 2001. To his critics Brady was a game manager who made quick short passes and whose long ball was questionable at best.  However he was effective and supported by a shutdown defense, Belichick elected to keep him in even after Bledsoe was healthy to return.  Although Bledsoe got to come in and have some heroics in the AFC Championship game after Brady was hurt, Brady was still selected to start the Super Bowl after some debate.

Moment of Victory!

    I have seen Super Bowl 36 more than any other.  I would do a Patriots victory marathon every time they got back to the Super Bowl.  One of the most shocking things to people who go back and watch this is just how badly Tom Brady played. 

    He may have been selected MVP but you would hardly see why watching the first 50+ minutes of the game.  During this time the Patriots offense was like a car with a poor starter.  They were repeatedly three and out, and when they actually got a first down it was normally followed by a punt three plays later.  I think they may have had one drive in the first quarter where they had two first downs but I am not sure. The story of that Super Bowl was not its offense but its defense.

    The Rams of this era were known as “The Greatest Show on Turf” but the Pats defense, led by the likes of Ty Law, Richard Seymore, and Lawyer Malloy, overwhelmed them.  Kurt Warner was able to move his offense up and down the field but were prevented from scoring with forced stops and turnovers.  As the first quarter came to a close the Rams offensive juggernaut was limited to just two field goal attempts, and one of them was missed. 

    In the second quarter the Pats offense was not providing much assistance while the defense was doing all that it could.  Not only did they hold the Rams scoreless but Ty Law intercepted Warner for a pick-six to put the Patriots on top with a 7-3 lead. As the quarter came to an end Antwan Harris forced the Rams to fumble in their own territory and the Pats were able to recover.  Starting in their opponent’s territory Brady was able to drive it down the field and complete his first touchdown pass to David Patten.  The first half ended with the Pats up 14-3.

    The third quarter was a replay of what the earlier game had been with the Rams moving it up the field with no result but still holding on to the ball longer than the Patriots. Otis Smith intercepted a pass and brought it back to the Rams 30.  Brady and the offense went three and out again, so the Patriots settled for a field goal. 17-3.

    By the fourth quarter the defense of the Patriots started to show signs of exhaustion but they weren’t done yet.  With the Rams at the Pats goal line about to score, the Patriots forced another fumble and Tebucky Jones ran it all the way back for another 97 yards touchdown to put the game out of reach for the Rams.  Or would have if there hadn’t been a penalty for holding on the play.  The Rams now had first and goal from the goal line and were able to punch it in to put them down by a score.  When the Pats had the ball back they did a quick three and out and it went back to the Rams again.  The Rams marched down the field and tied the game with a 1:30 left in the quarter.  The Rams comeback win seemed inevitable.  The way the Patriots were playing it didn’t seem like they had it in them to win by way of their offense.   But then they did.  In a now legendary drive Brady drove it up the field to set up a game winning field goal by Adam Vinatieri.

    Brady deserves credit for those last minute plays to secure the victory but the lion’s share of credit for that win belongs to Belichick.   

Super Bowl 38

2003 New England Patriots

2/1/2004

Both evenly responsible for win

     If I were a sports documentarian I think a good documentary would be about the 2003 New England Patriots and the 2003 NFL season as a whole.  After the Bucs beat the Raiders in Super Bowl 37 there was a good deal of discussion about how the era of great quarterbacks was over and from now on it was going to be strong defenses with okay or moderate quarterbacks.  It turns out we were heading into the Brady-Manning era which would be led by great quarterbacks with the rivalry between the top two as the centerpiece.  Yes the two had faced off twice in 2001 but those were Brady’s first start and first road start with no one expecting anything from him and the Colts were an off year that would lead to the firing of their head coach, Jim Mora.  

    Despite the disastrous start where they were blown out 31-0 in the opener they rallied back and finished with a 14-2 record.  In the playoffs they beat the co-MVPs that year Payton Manning and Steve McNair.  

Happy?

    The Super Bowl against the Panthers was one of my favorites. Two great defenses tore into the offenses at the start of each half and continued half way into the 2nd and 4th quarters respectively.  It was nearing the end of each half that the two defenses were worn down leading to a quarterback duel between Tom Brady and Jake Delhomme.  At the end of the first half Brady and the Pats were on top 14-10, but during the shootout in the second half Delhomme and Panthers managed to see it tied 29-29.  That is when Brady led the Pats offense on another miracle drive that ended with another game-winning Vinatieri-kick.   

Again!

    That year the offense and defense were equals that complimented on another.  Both the Head Coach and Quarterback deserve equal credit for this one. 

Super Bowl 39

2004 New England Patriots

2/6/2005

Both evenly responsible for win

     “Yes, it is a dynasty!”  The announcer said after the Patriots secured their third win in four years.  Very much like the previous year’s team, except for a better running game with the acquisition of Corey Dillon, the Patriots finished this season 14-2 and took down the Colts and Steelers led by the likes of Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger respectively.

A master at work!

    The Super Bowl was a duel between two evenly talented teams who in the first two quarters matched each other score for score. In the fourth quarter the Pats were able to pull ahead by ten and the Eagles were only able to pull within three as the game ended on a Rodeny Harrison interception.  Like the season before the offense and defense were perfect complements and the Head Coach and Quarterback deserve equal credit. 

On the wrong side of sack for Mr. McNabb

Super Bowl 42

2007 New England Patriots

2/3/2008

More at fault for loss: Brady

    The Super Bowl that we Patriot fans hate talking about the most: the loss of the perfect season. I am going to make this quick. In Brady’s defense you could say he had his team up by four with less than three minutes to go.  However like Super Bowl 36 I am judging this by the whole performance not just then end of the game.  If your defense holds your opponents to under twenty points and you have one of the most explosive offenses in the history of the game (with Randy Moss and Wes Welker as your star receivers)then that needs to be a win.  Yet, they were only able to put up two scores.  Ironically, earlier that week Brady joked about a Giants player’s 20-17 Giants prediction when he said, “You think we’re only going to score 17 points?” If they did they would have tied and gone to overtime. 

One of the worst days of my life!

Super Bowl 46
2011 New England Patriots
2/5/2012
More at fault for loss: Brady

    Rubbing salt in the wound the Patriots fall again to the same team that denied them their perfect season four years prior.  The same thing almost happened again.  The Pats got three more points this time but you had a great offense that for some reason couldn’t beat a team who your defense held to under twenty points.  (Yes I understand the Giants scored 21 but 2 of those came on a safety when Brady threw out of bounds in his own end zone on the opening their drive.) God, it was an ugly game.

Here we are again.

 

Super Bowl 49

2014 New England Patriots

2/1/2015

More responsible for win: Brady

     Like Super Bowl 36 everyone remembers how this one ended.  The Malcolm Butler interception at the goal line the game’s last moments to seal the win.  You might think we would credit Belichick more.  The Coach gets credit but the lion’s share of this one belongs to Tom Brady.  The way the sliced threw the so-called “Legion of Boom” leading the team back from a ten point fourth quarter deficit to a four point lead by the way of two touchdowns.  The game that truly ended the Manning/Brady debate as the same defense had squashed Manning’s Broncos in the previous Super Bowl.

Whose the GOAT?

Super Bowl 51

2016 New England Patriots

2/5/2017

Both evenly responsible for win

    

No chance...

28-3 that is what everyone remembers about this game and for good reason.  The Patriots down 28-3 in the third quarter rallied to the greatest comeback in the history of the Super Bowl.  With this game, both Brady and Belichick were both equally responsible for both getting themselves in the deep hole and also equally responsible for getting them out.  It was a unique combination of offense to assemble the points combined with a defense that held the other side to none and created opportunities with turnovers.   

...at all

Super Bowl 52

2017 New England Patriots

2/4/2018

More at fault for loss: Belichick

    Yeah this loss is on Belichick.  When your quarterback throws for over 500 yards and the offense scores 33 points and you’re supposed to be a defensive genius then it is on you to win.  When your big decision before the game is to bench one your top corners who won you the Super Bowl three years ago. I don’t know who else to blame but the coach in this situation.   

This one is on the coach

Super Bowl 53

2018 New England Patriots

2/3/2019

More responsible for win: Belichick

     Like their first Super Bowl appearance when they also played the Rams, Brady and his offense couldn’t score more than 13 points.  Those are normally losing numbers but when you have a defense that performed as well as theirs did that day it was nine points more than needed.  That one was “In Bill We Trust.”

Defense wins championships!